Wandering Soul
by FriedIce
Summary: "For ten years I have scoured these lands, searching for remnants of my parents' pasts. I have seen the ruins of Uzu, the deserts of Suna and the blood soaked land of Kiri, but now, now I return to the one place I never really knew: Konoha."-After a ten year absence, Uzumaki Naruto returns to his parents' home, in order to answer that one lingering question: 'Why Konoha'
1. Chapter 1

**Wandering Soul**

Summary

_"For ten years I have scoured these lands, searching for remnants of my parents' pasts. I have seen the ruins of Uzu, the deserts of Suna and the blood soaked land of Kiri, but now, now I return to the one place I never really knew: Konoha."_

Uzumaki Naruto left Konoha nearly ten years ago to find out the truth of his parents. Armed with the most powerful weapon for a Shinobi, the truth, Naruto returns to his birthplace in order to answer that one lingering question in his mind: 'Why Konoha?'

Shoved onto a team of 'burn-out's by the well-meaning Hokage, Naruto finds himself reluctantly laying down roots in his parents' home all the while desperately trying to bury his past. But Naruto has forgotten what all ninjas do best: they look underneath the underneath.

**Chapter One**

**"I Have to Wonder Do Those Ten Years Mean That I Get Ten Years Worth of Interest on My Inheritance?"  
**

Sarutobi took a long, drawn-out look at the man sat before him, adjusting his pipe as he did so.

Kotetsu and Izumo had – on one of the rare occasions where they weren't sleeping on the job – picked the young man up trying to enter the village with forged papers. Following protocol, the guards had taken him into custody and a search later found him armed with enough weapons to set up a shop and enough explosive notes to put a dent in the earth.

According to the rather rushed report the duo had given the Hokage, their initial suspicion had been that this man was a smuggler, trying to bypass customs in order to make a tidy profit selling his goods in the village, but it simply hadn't fit. The weapons were too used – even though they were well maintained – to have been intended for sale. That, apparently, was when Kotetsu and Izumo had noticed the katana.

And that Katana, in essence, was the reason that this man had been shackled in chakra-suppressant handcuffs and dragged before Sarutobi.

The monkey summoner let his eyes drift down to the blade. It was truly a work of art, even fully sheathed as it was. Inscribed into the sheath was a simple label _'aoshiro', _written in beautiful calligraphy. Still not certain of the reports he received, the Hokage tested the hilt, attempting – and failing – to draw the blade from its sheath.

Sarutobi turned the katana over in his hands and caught sight of the exact reason that this man had been brought into his office.

There, clear as day, on the sheath that Sarutobi had been admiring just moments before, was a blood seal. And Sarutobi hadn't seen that sort of blood seal in nearly sixteen years.

It was an Uzumaki seal.

"Where did you get this sword?" Sarutobi asked, his eyes finally shifting back to the man.

The man said nothing, merely kept his head down, tilting his sugegasa (AN1) so it covered his face.

Sarutobi debated his options. The man was quite obviously in no mood to speak and the preliminary psych evaluations from the Hokage's ANBU had shown this man to be the annoyingly stubborn type who wouldn't talk just because it would be a show of bowing down to authority. Adding a bit of Killer Intent to the mix would probably just make the man more uncooperative too.

Tch, in the words of the infamous Nara clan: how troublesome.

Sarutobi stared the young man down, willing for him to crack.

The man was dressed simply, like a farmer, and would have most likely been mistaken for one if not for the tell-tale signs of a trained soldier.

He wore dark brown trousers which were wrapped at the bottom with bandages – something any shinobi worth his money would recognise as a way to hide gravity seals. While his lean figure and tanned skin suggested a life of hard work on the fields, the man before the Hokage lacked the slightly malnourished look most farmers in Fire Country had due to the famine five years ago. Lastly, though the straw sugegasa was reminiscent of a farmer's, a lowly farmer would have removed his hat when in the Hokage's presence, instead of angling it so that it obscured his face and refusing to answer questions.

Sarutobi didn't relent his stare on the non-farmer, his eyes now moving to what little of the man's face he could see.

The jawline visible beneath the brim of the hat was tanned and cleanly shaven, but that wasn't the feature that gave Sarutobi pause. That feature was the six whisker marks that stained the young man's cheeks.

The monkey summoner narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?" he demanded, his voice taking a more hostile tone unintentionally.

For the first time in the meeting, the man raised his head, reaching up with a surprisingly un-shackled hand to tip his hat back. Piercing blue eyes bore into Sarutobi's own empty ones.

Sarutobi's pipe dropped from his mouth and clattered to the table, spilling hot ash over the paperwork that he'd just completed.

A vulpine grin adorned the all too familiar face that was staring back at the Hokage.

"Long time no see, right, old man?"

Sarutobi openly gaped. He hadn't seen that face in nearly ten years.

"Na—" he paused in shock, blinking to make sure his senility wasn't finally getting to him.

"Naruto?!" he finally managed.

The blond sat across from him merely widened his grin before standing up, dropping the handcuffs that had occupied his hands to the floor. Uzumaki Naruto, who hadn't stepped foot in Konoha in nearly ten years, pulled his hat down off his head and swept into a deep bow.

"The one and only," he announced.

Sarutobi stood stock still for a moment, taking in the sight of the now grown up boy he had viewed as his grandson. He couldn't help it. Formalities be damned. The Third Hokage of Konoha abandoned his desk and pulled the slightly surprised sixteen year old before him into a crushing hug.

* * *

_"Just think about it…"_

Naruto stared down at the object in his hands many hours later. He'd left the Hokage's office, not quite sure where he was going, and had ended up here, on top of the Hokage Monument, standing on the Fourth's – his father's – head.

_"This was your mother's. It was one of the only things she brought with her to Konoha…"_

It was a forehead protector, similar to all of the ones that he'd found back _there. _But, on the back of the metal plaque there was a leaf, like was found with a Konoha Ninja.

_"Your father put that leaf there, after the fall of Uzu…"_

Naruto tightened his grip on the strip of fabric before pushing his fringe up and tying it around his forehead.

_"They would have wanted you to have it."_

Naruto shook his head, amazed by how comfortable he felt with the plaque there. This was who he was: Uzumaki Naruto, the last surviving heir of the Uzumaki clan.

He'd spent ten years searching for that person and, stepping foot in the village that both his parents had called home, Naruto finally felt like he had found him.

Naruto stared blankly over the village. This was why he had come back, wasn't it? He had very few fond memories of Konoha, very much limited to the Hokage and the nice man who had given ramen, and yet his parents had _died _protecting this place.

He'd left Konoha ten years ago to find answers. Now he was back, armed with the truth but still trying to find an answer that was so much harder to grasp. Why Konoha? What was so great about this village, this village that had hated him for something he couldn't control, couldn't change, that his parents had fought and died for it?

Naruto had no idea. But, Naruto was back to find out why.

Uzumaki Naruto straightened himself up before forming his hands into a seal and disappearing in a small haze of smoke.

* * *

"All due respect, Hokage-sama," Haruno Sakura said, looking up from her book, "but you better be messing with me."

The Hokage looked at the pink-haired kunoichi with amusement clear in his eyes.

"I assure you, Miss Haruno, I am perfectly serious," Sarutobi said, staring at Sakura with the knowing gaze he had become famous for.

Sakura snapped her book shut with a loud clap.

"Then, Hokage-sama, I am going to have to most respectfully tell you to shove your request right up your venerable—"

Sakura was cut off from her rant by a hand being clasped over her mouth.

"What Sakura meant to say," the owner of the hand hurriedly moved to correct, "was that while she is honoured by your offer, Hokage-sama, she isn't interested right now and will have to politely decline."

Sakura glared at the person beside her. Yamanaka Ino didn't even flinch under the gaze, completely used to it after a year of being the young kunoichi's bodyguard and years prior of being her best friend.

"Ah, Miss Yamanaka," the Hokage said, as if only now realising that Ino had been sitting in on the entire conversation. "I think I have something for you too…" The Hokage pulled a scroll out of his robes and handed it to the blonde.

Ino gingerly took the scroll and, sparing a glance at Sakura, read it.

"Now, Hokage-sama?" she asked.

The Hokage nodded.

Ino removed her hand from Sakura's mouth, muttering a quick excuse as she did so and then took off, bowing slightly before she left.

Now alone with Sakura, the Hokage looked expectantly at her.

"No," she said with finality. She paused, then seemed to remember she'd forgotten her manners. "Hokage-sama," she added on the end.

The Hokage sighed.

"You know, Miss Haruno," he said conversationally. "I am always surprised by your ability to be extremely respectful and insulting at the same time."

"The answer's still no, Hokage-sama," Sakura said, preparing to take her book back up and read it again.

Sakura was one of the two people alive who dared to read in the Hokage's presence. Hatake Kakashi was the other.

Sarutobi knew he was losing Sakura. He could order her to comply to his wishes, but that would create a lot of bad blood… It was more logical to merely sweeten the deal.

"If, Miss Haruno," the Hokage said carefully, "you are willing to consider my offer, I am willing to consider removing your bodyguards."

Sakura was so shocked she dropped her book.

"And, of course, this would be a way for you to reach chuunin via the more … traditional … method."

Sakura didn't even bother with formalities when she formed the next response.

"If I do this, no more bodyguards?" she asked.

The Hokage nodded.

"Training ground 7," the Hokage said, knowing he had Sakura's attention, "tomorrow morning before nine."

Sarutobi smiled as he watched Sakura leave his office in a daze. Sometimes it was too easy. The other two would be just as easy to persuade…

* * *

Sasuke looked down at the scroll and frowned. Not that he wasn't glad to be finally returning to active duty – Orochimaru had sure as hell done a number on him six months ago – but it was a bit strange.

To put it simply, he was being reassigned to a new genin team.

Sasuke hadn't been on a genin team since his teammates and sensei died on a mission three – or was it four? – years ago. The mission had been incorrectly ranked and their first C-rank had quickly gone B-rank, then later A-rank, involving them facing up a veritable one man army of a missing-nin.

If not for the timely arrival of both their backup and another faction, Sasuke openly admitted that he would have joined his teammates in their graves.

It was strange, that the loss of his teammates was the one thing that could have hammered the importance of your comrades into him.

Even his three years with _Kakashi_ as his sensei could not have enforced the message as well.

But that was beside the point. Sasuke sighed, before throwing a katon jutsu at the scroll and starting to throw senbon at the target again.

It was almost funny. A team of 'burnt-out' genins with a 'burnt-out' sensei…

Judging by the profiles, though, and what he knew of Sakura and Kakashi, this team would be anything but a team of burn-outs.

Sasuke sighed again – exasperation was one of the few emotions he ever showed – and made his way home. He briefly wondered how the Hokage had managed to persuade Kakashi into this…

* * *

"I'll do it," Kakashi said immediately, without even looking up from the mission scroll.

Sarutobi smiled triumphantly to himself. He had been expecting some sort of complaint, but give Kakashi the right motivation and the Shodaime himself would have to help whoever stood in his way.

It appeared that the past was the one thing Kakashi could not let go of.

Sensing he owed it to his successor to say something of comfort to his student, Sarutobi struggled to find something to say.

"It wasn't your fault, you know," he eventually settled on.

Kakashi eye-smiled sadly.

"I know," Kakashi repeated softly before turning and leaving via the window. "But that doesn't mean I believe it."

* * *

**_AN1_**_: a sugegasa is one of those conical straw hats you always see farmers wearing in anime._

_So here's my new story. Any questions, leave a review. No questions? Leave a review anyway._

_Over and out,_

_FriedIce_

_PS: REVIEW!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**A Ringing In The Ears Is A Symptom Of A Concussion And You Should Visit Your Doctor**

Naruto looked over his apartment. He hadn't been here in ten years and that much was evident. Apparently, oji-san had kept it for him all these years, in case he returned.

The complex was battered and all of his windows had been smashed in at one point or another. Nothing of value remained, long since looted, but there had never really been anything of value to begin with.

As Naruto ran a hand along the now dust covered surfaces of his kitchen worktop, he felt a pang of nostalgia, one which he almost immediately crushed. This wasn't his home, he told himself, it was merely a place he had lived. He had no home.

Sighing deeply, Naruto walked into what had been his bedroom and sat down on the lumpy bed. His eyes wandered the room, eventually falling on the patch of floorboards he used to hide important things – like money and weapons – under.

It was with a bitter smile that Naruto pulled the floorboard up.

The hidey-hole was pretty much cleaned out; Naruto had ransacked it just before he snuck out of Konoha. Only one thing remained in it: a folded piece of paper.

Frowning slightly, Naruto pulled the piece of paper from the hole and unfolded it carefully.

Pictured on the paper was a drawing – although scrawl may have been a more accurate description (he hadn't been _that _bad at drawing, had he? It was a miracle he could even make something that _vaguely_ looked like a seal) – that he could barely remember drawing.

Still, tracing the wobbly lines under his finger, Naruto couldn't help but be drawn into the past…

_"Hey Hokage-jiji!" Naruto called out, putting the crayons down on the desk triumphantly. "I'm done!"_

_The Hokage looked up from his paperwork, a rare amused smile on his face._

_"Well then, Naruto, what is it?" he asked, pushing aside his paperwork to look at what the kid had drawn. He pointed to one of the squiggles. "Who's this?"_

_"You, Hokage-jiji!" Naruto exclaimed happily, pointing at the old man with an energy that only a four year old could achieve._

_The Hokage chuckled slightly. "And who's this?" he asked, pointing to the other person in the foreground of the picture._

_"Me! Duh!" Naruto said, then rushed forwards to point out more details in the picture. "And that's your hat that your giving me 'cos I was so awesome you promoted ME to HOKAGE!"_

_The Hokage jumped a bit when Naruto shouted the last bit. "And those are all the civit- civilisa- citizens!" Naruto cheered mentally at his victory over the long word. "And they're all clapping 'cos they agree that I am AWESOME!"_

_This time, the Hokage was more prepared for the shout and didn't even flinch at the sound._

_"So you want to become Hokage?" he asked._

_"No, jiji-san," Naruto explain petulantly. "I WILL become Hokage, dattebayo!"_

Naruto sighed yet again when the memory faded. Everything had seemed so simple back then: become Hokage and everyone would acknowledge him. How childish. How foolish. How … how he wished he had remained that way.

Naruto wished many things in life. He wished that he hadn't killed someone at age seven. He wished that he hadn't had the bastard fox sealed inside him. He wished he had just decided to be normal. He wished that there still wasn't a small part of him that desperately wished to be Hokage.

Naruto wished for a lot of things, but none of these things would happen.

* * *

Sakura was feeling really rather cheerful as she made her way to Training Ground 7 with an uncharacteristic smile on her face. The civilians shrank away from her, remembering an old story they'd often been told: 'Haruno Sakura only ever smiled on the battlefield'.

Sakura merely smiled even more brightly, revelling in the fact that she was free for the first time in what seemed like ages.

No more bodyguards. No more constant watch on her making her ninja-senses go into overdrive. It was going to be a good day.

Sakura's smile faded off her face and she drew caution when she didn't recognise the chakra signature in Training Ground 7. While it was entirely possible that she'd never met this person before and thus didn't know how their chakra felt, that wasn't what caused her to falter. It was the faint unnerving edge the chakra had to it.

Sakura proceeded with caution into the clearing, her kunai drawn and held in guard across her face.

When she entrered the training grounds, fully expecting a hostile, she saw a young man sat in the lotus position, seemingly meditating. However, this didn't fully register with her. She didn't see a blond-haired blue-eyed teenager when she arrived, she saw a stranger she had never seen before, wearing foreign clothes and a hitae-ate with a strange symbol on it.

Sakura's first instinct was to attack to kill, but she reigned it in, remembering the problems that Konoha had had in the past with killing foreign ninja. Instead, she dropped silently behind him and pressed her kunai to his throat.

"Who the hell are you?" she growled in his ear.

The reaction was immediate. The man's eyes snapped open, his gaze flitting around the clearing, seeming to be searching for something.

"Who wants to know?"

Sakura was shocked by how soft and lacking of animosity his voice was. He sounded remarkably calm.

"Haruno Sakura," Sakura introduced herself. "Konoha genin."

That seemed to get a response from the man.

"In that case," he said, "would you mind letting me go? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm part of Konoha's forces too." He reached up and tapped his hitae-ate.

For the first time, Sakura got a close look at the man's hitae-ate. She nearly dropped her kunai in shock before regaining her composure.

"Don't screw with me," she growled. "Anyone worth their money knows that Uzushiogakure was wiped out by Iwa and Kumo years ago—"

It was at this point that the third member of their team entered the clearing. Uchiha Sasuke took one look at Sakura, her angry face and the kunai and decided that perhaps it was better if he came back later.

Sakura, however, wasn't about to let him get away with that.

"Oi, Sasuke," she called, leaving off the –kun suffix like she had decided to all those years ago. "Uzu was wiped out ages ago, right? So what's a guy doing in our training ground with an Uzu hitae-ate?"

Sasuke noticed how the man Sakura had in a choke-hold seemed to tense at the mention of Uzu's fall. Interesting…

Sasuke walked around to get a better look at the hitae-ate in question and paused in shock when he saw the man's face. He had seen that face twice before and both times had given him a shock.

The first was when someone had shown him a picture of the Fourth Hokage.

The second was when he bought a copy of the bingo book after Sakura was entered into it.

On page twelve, near Sakura in the book, had been a picture of the youngest person alive to make it into the bingo books. This person had made it into the book at age ten and there had been surprisingly little information about him.

His known aliases, those were there, his age, his appearance, but information like his signature techniques, his real name and crime were missing.

Then there had been the picture. It was disturbing to say the least.

It was taken of a ten-year old blond, covered from head to toe in blood. The background was blurred, so it was hard to see who he had killed, but the expression on the blond's face was the really potent thing. He was looking straight at the camera, confusion apparent in his eyes.

But that wasn't the shocking thing. He was S-ranked. S-ranked. Itachi level at the age of seven.

From then on, there had been a bit of information about his movements and photos of him that brought him up to the age of eleven and after that, the trail just dropped off. Sasuke supposed that the ten-year old kid must have either gotten better or worse at hiding.

This was the last place he expected to see that face.

"Crimson Fox," Sasuke breathed, muttering his nickname.

The man seemed to do a double take at that name.

"Crimson Fox? I haven't heard _that _name in years," the man said, raising his eyebrows at Sasuke. That all but confirmed who he was to Sasuke.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, his hands poised, ready to form a jutsu at a second's notice if necessary.

"I told you," the man said, "I've been assigned to Konoha's forces. The old man said I would be assigned to a team and to meet them here today. Wait," the man paused. "You guys aren't my team, are you?"

"Unfortunately, Naruto, they are."

It was at this point that Hatake Kakashi dropped down into the clearing, eye-smiling as he waved a hand at the trio of genin.

"Ohayo," he said cheerfully.

The reactions were instant. Sasuke face-palmed, Sakura dropped her kunai and the man – whose name was now revealed to be Naruto – sighed in relief. After a few reassurances from Kakashi that Naruto was, in fact, part of Konoha's forces, the four of them found themselves sat in a circle, with Kakashi lazing against a tree.

"So, my cute little genin students," Kakashi said, eyeing each of them with his only visible eye. "You know the drill, introductions… Let's use the basic name, age, likes, dislikes, hobbies and goals for the future structure. Who wants to go first?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes before raising his hand.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he said shortly. "I'm sixteen. I like tomatoes, training and Konoha. I dislike missing-nin, traitors and sweet things. My hobbies include training and mastering my sharingan. My goal for the future is personal and I'd rather not talk about it."

Kakashi sighed. At least it was said with a nicer tone than his first introduction.

"Sakura," Kakashi said, motioning for the pinkette to introduce herself. "Your turn."

"I'm Haruno Sakura," she said, "and I'm also sixteen. In terms of likes, I like books, learning about medical jutsu and sparring. In contrast to this, I dislike sociopaths, my nickname in the bingo book and bodyguards. Goals for the future… Well, getting promoted to chuunin would be a nice start."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. Nothing unexpected so far. Now, for Naruto…

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said calmly. "But I've also been known by nearly fifty different aliases and three different monikers. I'm sixteen. I like ramen, fuuinjutsu and kenjutsu, but dislike Iwa, insane jinchuriki and senbon … those were some bad experiences. I didn't really have much time for hobbies. Goals for the future, eh? I just want to survive."

Kakashi allowed himself to raise his eyebrows. That was … strange.

"What about you, sensei?" Sasuke asked, his eyes glinting. "And no evasive crap like last time."

Kakashi sighed.

"My name's Hatake Kakashi, also known as Konoha's Copy-nin or Sharingan Kakashi in the bingo books," he said. "I'm older than all of you in both experience and age. I like and dislike a few things that should probably never be revealed to children, but the more innocent of my interests include training, sparring and reading. I don't really have a goal for the future."

They were all silent for about ten seconds before-

Kakashi eye-smiled clapping his hands. "I bet you can guess what's coming next! It's Bell Test time!"

Sasuke groaned, Sakura looked confused and Naruto just frowned.

Kakashi smiled evilly. He was going to run them into the ground.

* * *

_Hello again, here's a new chapter. Another one out soon!_

_I really enjoy writing this characterization of Sakura... tehehehe..._

_Anyway, next chapter we'll look a bit more into the characters' pasts._

_Over and out,_

_FriedIce_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Why Experienced Shinobi Don't Normally Use Alarm Clocks**

Kakashi limped into the Hokage's office and pulled himself up straight in front of the old man.

"Kakashi, report," Sarutobi said, sounding anxious. "What in hell happened to you?"

Kakashi looked rather bedraggled, his hair was even more messy than normal and was that blood on his shoulder?

"Next time," Kakashi said, his glare fixed on the Hokage, making him look positively dangerous. "You assign an S-ranked ninja to my team, _warn me beforehand._"

Though Kakashi had barely raised his voice, he still sounded murderous.

The Hokage had not been expecting this response and gave his articulate reply: "What?"

Kakashi pulled out a copy of one of the bingo books and threw it to the Hokage, open on a specific page.

"Something one of my students said piqued my cuiousity and I thought I'd check out his claim. This is the latest edition of the bingo book."

Sarutobi stared down at the page before him.

**_Maelstrom_**

_Name: unknown_

_Age: unknown – estimated as 16_

_Affiliation: unknown_

_Rank: S-ranked_

_Warnings: Highly dangerous. Upon sighting immediate retreat is advised._

_Known aliases_

Sarutobi found himself widening his eyes as the list of aliases continued for nearly the rest of the page. There had to be close to fifty different aliases there, but only one caught his attention: Kazama Arashi.

That was the false name he'd fed Naruto about his father when the boy had been four.

"Is this—" Sarutobi began.

"Turn the page," Kakashi said grimly.

The Hokage did so and his eyes immediately fell on the image of Naruto, a sword held in his hand, mid-strike. He was dressed in clothes native to somewhere in Water Country, the sugegasa that Sarutobi had seen him wearing just days before to cover his face hanging behind his head. But that wasn't what really scared Sarutobi. Naruto's eyes were red in the image.

"Kyuubi," the Hokage muttered.

Kakashi frowned at the elderly man as he turned to his ANBU guard.

"Hawk, fetch Uzumaki Naruto," the Hokage instructed as the masked man moved out of the shadows. "We have a few things to discuss."

* * *

_Naruto opened his eyes._

_Huh? Why were his hands covered in red paint?_

_Naruto looked himself up and down. He was soaked in red paint. What was going on? And what was that smell? It smelled … like blood._

_Naruto caught sight of the corpse in front of him and everything came crashing down. He'd done this. He'd killed them. He was a monster…_

_Why had nobody told him? Then he could have done something…_

_Now, he was merely a heartless monster, wasn't he? He was just the kyuubi's vessel. Just a monster._

_Naruto's knees gave way underneath him. Had he enjoyed that?_

_Was he simply a monster?_

_'NO!' he screamed to himself. He wouldn't let himself become a monster! He would train. He would stop himself._

_And to train, he needed a teacher…_

Naruto's long trained senses were what roused him from his sleep, causing him to draw a kunai from beneath his pillow, whirling around to face his would-be attacker. Naruto's hand was already reaching for his sword when he noticed the stylised mask.

"Wolf-san," he said with a nod, pushing his kunai back under his pillow.

"The Hokage requests your presence," the ANBU said in his monotone voice.

Naruto sighed, pushing off the covers and reaching for some form of clothes to throw on. It didn't escape the ANBU's notice that he hadn't let go of his sword.

"At three am?" Naruto asked blearily, catching sight of the alarm clock.

If it was possible to tell through the mask, Naruto guessed that the ANBU was giving him a pointed look.

In a half dazed state from sleep, Naruto threw on whatever clothes he could find in the darkness before tying his mother's Uzu hitae-ate around his forehead in an effort to keep his bangs out of his eyes.

"Let's go," Naruto said.

The ANBU grabbed his wrist and, with a lazy one-handed seal, they disappeared in a swirl of empty air.

* * *

Kakashi had watched the interaction between Naruto and the Hokage with avid attention. Not that he'd shown it, making sure to keep his nose buried in his book.

When his sensei's son had disappeared from the village nearly ten years ago, Kakashi had been distraught. Then, after that, Rin had gone MIA and Kakashi had fallen even deeper into depression. It had only been by throwing himself into work that Kakashi had avoided self-destructing.

Kakashi knew enough about the search for Naruto to know that the fact he'd been able to avoid all of the recon squads sent after him for years meant that his sensei's son was good. Very good.

But, seeing the blonde haired genin before him, Kakashi was forced to admit that Naruto was a lot more like his father than he had originally given him credit for. Not only was the likeness in terms of appearance disturbing, but Naruto had inherited his father's sharp mind too.

The one thing that had never ceased to impress Kakashi about his sensei was how he always knew exactly the right thing to say. With infiltration, he could turn someone into an asset without them even realising it, with a stressed comrade he could always reassure him and with interrogation, he could dance around with his speech so skilfully that you never realised it was happening until it was too late.

As Kakashi watched Naruto dodge question after question with ease, he couldn't help but smile that the blond had inherited _that _part of his father's personality.

It was almost amusing, actually, the way that Naruto was playing the Hokage like a game of dice, but rather worrying at the same time. Since it was the Hokage and all.

Kakashi chuckled at the absurdity of it all, lifting his book up as an excuse when both Naruto and Sarutobi turned to glare at him.

* * *

_Sakura stared impassively at her incapacitated teammates, her mind whirring._

_She had a small arsenal of medical techniques, none of which were mastered to a degree that they could be used safely, and knew very few other ninjutsu bar the academy three. Her taijutsu was weak at best and her genjutsu, whilst advanced for her age, was still barely non-existent._

_She'd always been the medic in her team, applying first aid when her teammates were injured, but she'd barely even started her medical apprenticeship. Sakura didn't feel confident that she wouldn't permanently injure her teammates in a misguided attempt to heal them._

_Suddenly, Sakura's green eyes turned frosty._

_If she couldn't safely use medical techniques, she would just have to use them hazardously._

_She would carve herself a bloody path through this exam and get her teammates out alive…_

Sakura stirred in her sleep, blinking herself awake.

That dream … bad memories...

It seemed that the test yesterday had dredged up some old memories of her first genin team. Sakura sighed and looked at her clock. It was barely 7:30.

Kakashi had told them to meet him at eight, which gave her approximately three and a half hours before she needed to be at the designated meeting place.

Well, she supposed, she could use this time productively.

Sakura threw on some clothes before walking down the battered path to Konoha's hospital.

* * *

_Sasuke was frozen in fear._

_Strewn on the ground before him were the dead bodies of sensei and teammates, helpless and lifeless. He'd been left until last because … because he was 'more fun to play with'._

_Sasuke told his limbs to move, but he remained motionless, overcome by the suffocating Killer Intent. Sasuke couldn't help but stare at the man in front of him in fear, his knuckles becoming white as he refused to drop his kunai._

_Sasuke hadn't seen this much blood since the massacre. Blood on the walls, crimson flecks on the ceiling, pools of red on the floor…_

_Suddenly, the memories were pouring back into Sasuke, his eyes widening in horror as he watched his br—That Man slaughter everyone he ever loved and cared about. Sasuke dropped the kunai, bringing his hand up to clutch his head, the strangling KI forgotten in the pure horror of the memories._

_Again and again, Sasuke watched That Man kill everyone. Unbidden, words came to Sasuke's lips._

_"Itachi-nii…"_

_He had been so helpless, hadn't he? Damnit! Why wasn't he stronger? Why couldn't he have protected everyone?_

_"Sasuke, pull yourself together!"_

_Sasuke looked up, his traumatized black eyes meeting a concerned green._

_Haruno Sakura sat in front of Sasuke, a first-aid kit in her hands. Sasuke half expected the pinkette to fuss, but instead she just took his arm and started dressing his wounds._

_Even though he should have been wincing in pain as Sakura applied disinfectant, Sasuke found himself giving a weak smile. Help had arrived. Now, he could finally … stop … stop fighting…_

Sasuke jolted awake.

It had been that same nightmare again.

_Why?_ Sasuke asked himself. Why did all his best memories have to be intertwined with pain?

When his alarm clock started beeping, Sasuke crushed it with his fist in anger.

Why? Why couldn't the past just stay buried?

He was a different person now. He had friends… Nakama… (AN1)

He'd jump in front of a kunai for any one of his precious people without hesitation, but…

He hadn't been prepared to do it back then.

Sasuke sighed before getting dressed and heading out.

It was with a rueful smile that he decided what he was going to do. He would see how his old teammates were doing.

* * *

"Hey, Watanabe-kun," Sakura said softly. "It's been a long time right?"

The person in front of her made no attempt to answer.

"So much has happened since we last spoke," she continued. "I got a new genin team and no longer have a bodyguard tailing me. That's great isn't it?"

Again, no answer.

"My teammates are a bit weird, but I suppose we work well together, in a dysfunctional sort of way."

Sakura reached out and took the limp hand of her teammate, her eyes travelling over the various life support systems.

"Of course," Sakura finished, a sad smile in place. "They could _never _compare to you and Retsushi-kun."

Then, Sakura sat in silence, her only company being the steady beeps of Watanabe's heart monitor.

* * *

Naruto looked at the memorial stone, a sort of detached distress in his eyes.

_"The bodies of your parents were found arm in arm, Naruto," _the Hokage had said.

Naruto reached out with a hand and traced the kanji of his parents' names.

_Namikaze Minato_

_Uzumaki Kushina_

"Sorry, mum, dad," Naruto said softly as he placed a bouquet of flowers down in front of the stone. "This is the first time I've ever visited your grave. I didn't even know this was here until recently."

Naruto allowed his hand to drift down the stone, trying not to cry.

"Naruto?"

Naruto whirled around, turning to see the face of his teammate.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, furrowing his brow. "What are you doing here?"

The last Uchiha held up three bouquets of flowers.

"Paying my respects to the dead," he answered curtly. "You?"

"Visiting my parents' grave," Naruto replied, emptiness lingering in his tone.

Whatever answer Sasuke had been expecting, this was not it. He walked past Naruto, laying the bouquets down next to Naruto's, before turning to face his blond teammate.

"Your parents were Konoha Shinobi?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Naruto's hitae-ate.

Naruto nodded, pushing himself up off the ground, where he'd been kneeling.

"My mother came to Konoha after the fall of Uzu," he answered easily. Naruto pointed to her name on the stone. "Her name was Kushina. Uzumaki Kushina."

Sasuke felt his body go limp in shock.

"D-did," Sasuke asked, mentally noting how improper it was for an Uchiha to stutter, "did she have r-red hair?"

Naruto shot him a funny look.

"_Most_ Uzumaki had red hair," he remarked. "But yes, she did. Why do you ask?"

Sasuke reached into his jacket, withdrawing the three photos he had folded there. The only three photos he really had.

The first was his mother and father's marriage photo. The second was his old team photo. The last, was a picture of his mother in her younger days, sat at an earlier version of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand.

Uchiha Mikoto was laughing in the photo, pointing to her red-headed friend with visible mirth as she downed an entire bowl of ramen in one. In the background was a blond-haired teen, whose eyes were bugging at the redhead's ability to eat so quickly. The blond was an early version of the Yondaime. The redhead, he'd later found out, was Uzumaki Kushina.

Sasuke handed Naruto the photo.

"She knew my mother," he said. "They were best friends."

* * *

Kakashi stood on the bridge where he had told his team to meet him at eight o'clock sharp, growing increasingly irritated as he waited.

He'd turned up on time, for once, with the hope of making a good first impression after the debacle that was the Bell Test.

So where the hell was everybody?

* * *

_AAAND CUT!_

_Alright folks, that's a wrap. I can't be asked to write another bit for this chapter so we'll cut it off there._

**_AN1_**_: nakama. All those who watch One Piece will know what this word means, it's the cast's favourite thing to say (we're nakama!) It basically means friends, but something deeper, more like comrades or family._

_Well, now that I've breached 5,000 words, I'll take a break from writing and posting this. Adios! Until next time._

_FriedIce_

_PS: Review please!_


	4. Chapter 4

**Pre-chapter notes:** Ah, the beauties of mock examinations. Sorry about the late update, I had severe writer's block for around two weeks after writing half of this, then I had to study for my mocks. It was traumatic. But, results are in (I was hoping for really bad ones; they would provide a much needed kick up the backside to do some actual work) and unfortunately, I got really good results. I know it shouldn't, but it makes me angry. Way to go teachers, now I think I don't NEED to study.

Sorry, minor rant there. Continue with the chapter now.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**The Academy Records Aren't Held In A Secure Location**

There was one thing about the newly dubbed Team 7 that would have made several other genin cry in jealousy. They were banned for D-rank missions.

Naruto had quite frankly told the Hokage that if he was assigned to D-ranks, he would defect to Kiri – a statement that caused much confusion in his teammates, after all, why Kiri? – and Sasuke had stated that if the Hokage tried to force him onto a D-rank mission, he would activate the Uchiha council seat and cause all kinds of problems for the old man. As for Sakura, well, she was banned from D-ranks after that fiasco _last time._

So, when Team 7 _did _arrive at the appointed meeting place, all three hours late, Kakashi could not punish them by giving them a terrible mission. Thus, Kakashi found solace in the fact that he was in charge of their training and decided to have them go through endless taijutsu katas – on the surface of the lake.

By the end of it, the only one who had been able to stay standing was Naruto, who barely looked like he had gone for a light jog. Kakashi mentally noted to test how far his stamina extended, then grinned, sensing a joint training session with his 'eternal rival' was coming up.

"Geez, Naruto," Sakura complained from where she was lying down. "How are you still standing?"

"I have a lot of experience with water," Naruto replied, casually wiping the single bead of sweat from his brow.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at Naruto's statement, adding another mental note to find out what Naruto meant by that and see if it was related to his earlier statement about Kiri.

"Hn," Sasuke added his opinion to the mix, only to be clobbered over the head for the trouble.

"You have an advanced vocabulary," Sakura lectured, "so use it."

"Whatever," Sasuke said, pushing himself up off the ground just in time to avoid another lunge for his head.

"Are they always like this?" Naruto asked Kakashi as he watched Sakura, now possessed with sudden vast amounts of energy blindly attack Sasuke, who was dancing around the blows with ease.

"Unfortunately," Kakashi said with a sage-like nod, "yes."

"And you're not going to do anything?" Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"You can't fight nature," Kakashi said in reply.

Naruto paused for a second before shrugging and pulling out a pair of kunai. _No harm in trying…_

He threw the kunai with deadly accuracy, so that they just narrowly missed both Sakura and Sasuke.

"Oi, you two," he called, grasping both of their attentions. "I'm gonna go train on my own for a bit. Once you're done fighting come and find me."

Kakashi watched Naruto disappear from the clearing.

He was nothing like Kakashi had expected. He'd expected someone … well, not someone like this. Someone open, someone earnest… Not someone mellow and mysterious.

* * *

Naruto slipped his hitae-ate over his eyes and calmed his mind, sinking into a low, meditative state.

Something he'd discovered, whilst rooting through the Uzumaki archives, was that as an Uzumaki, you were a literal chakra monster. Fiery red hair, an equally fiery temper and copious amounts of chakra: these were the traits that defined the ninja of Uzu.

Of course, having large reserves meant one thing: your control sucked.

Uzumaki infants were trained from the age of four in chakra control, just so that they would be adequate at it by the time they were fully matured into adulthood. This was for the average Uzumaki.

But, Naruto was not only an Uzumaki, but a jinchuriki, which placed him in the unfortunate position of having more chakra than he knew to deal with.

Luckily, his ancestors had also come across this problem within individuals who were born with extremely high reserves and so had come up with a rather rough, but functioning solution: chakra suppression seals.

When Naruto had come across this information, he had been twelve, overly enthusiastic at fuuinjutsu and unaware of the risks that came from applying _too _many seals. He had quite literally slapped on nineteen seals, causing himself to pass out from chakra exhaustion. It had been around three weeks before Naruto had been able to find anyone to take them off – as he possessed so little chakra removal wasn't possible – and so had gotten used to tapping into what little chakra he could.

That was what Naruto was doing now, but instead of using the technique to tap into his small reserves, Naruto was using it to control his vast amounts of chakra.

A stirring in the leaves was what caused Naruto to break his trance, reaching immediately for a weapon.

Unfortunately, he'd forgotten to remove his hitae-ate from his eyes, so he had to scrape by, fighting blind.

Great, just great.

* * *

When Kakashi felt the foreign chakra signatures coming from where Naruto had disappeared to, he immediately called Sasuke and Sakura to order before heading out after them. Then, he felt Naruto's chakra flare and picked up the pace tenfold.

What he was greeted with, however, when he arrived at the clearing, was Naruto cleaning his kunai on the grass, cursing under his breath.

"Kami damn it," Kakashi caught him saying. "I slaughter one _tiny _platoon of f***ing ninja…"

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, catching his attention. "What happened?"

Naruto straightened up before shrugging.

"Assassins – again." He sighed. "They're not wearing any hitae-ate and have no distinctive markings that ally themselves with a village, so I'm not really sure who sent them."

_But I bet you have a pretty good idea, _the Copy-nin thought.

"Do you have any people who'd want you dead?" Kakashi asked with a frown, still surveying the damage. Well, at least he knew how to kill cleanly.

"Well," Naruto placed his kunai back into a holster around his ankle, before picking up his sword, which, Kakashi noted, had remained sheathed throughout the entire ordeal. "There's that guy from Takigakure no Sato (AN1) whose brother I may or may not have accidentally kidnapped last year… And what's-her-name who tried to beat the crap out of me after I stole one of her chickens … and that boat guy who almost drowned when I capsized his boat…"

Kakashi's eyes widened as the list went on and on, the reasons all equally ridiculous.

"Maybe it'll be better if you wrote a list," Kakashi suggested.

Naruto working studiously on his list, Kakashi dismissed his other students for the day and went to report to the Hokage.

* * *

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi intoned, bowing his head.

"What's going on Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked, looking up from his endless paperwork, apparently worried. "Two reports in two days? If you're not careful, people will begin to think you've actually grasped the concept of time."

Kakashi took a deep breath before explaining. He could anticipate that Sarutobi's reaction to this was going to be severe to say the least.

"A squad of assassins tried to take out a member of my team today," Kakashi said.

The Hokage sighed and began to find an incident report form.

"It's not the first time this has happened," the Hokage said, handing Kakashi the form. "Just fill in the sheet and give it to my secretary."

"It wasn't Sakura."

Sarutobi's gaze turned iron.

"Who was it?"

Kakashi knew from the ensuing burst of KI that what he said was the wrong thing:

"Naruto."

* * *

Sakura sighed as she put down yet another reference book. Nothing.

The Uzumaki clan were supposed to have been legends, she thought, so why couldn't she find anything?

"Find anything, Sasuke?" the pinkette called up to her teammate, who was sat on top of the bookshelf.

"Maybe," he answered shortly, throwing a book down.

Sakura blinked, catching the register.

"What are you doing with the Academy Admission Records?" she demanded.

The Uchiha didn't deign her question worthy of a reply.

"Check page thirty-four," he told her, turning back to look for another book by leaning off the top of the bookcase and snatching a tome from the top shelf.

Sakura opened the book as told, staring down the class register, until she found the 'U' section.

"Aww, Sasuke-chan, you had perfect attendance!" Sakura cooed.

Sasuke shot her a look.

"Beneath my name, harpy," he said, switching to one of his old, insulting nicknames for her.

Sakura growled, lightly tossing a shuriken at his head but turning to look at the book all the same.

Her eyes widened.

Uzumaki Naruto. He had been in the same class as them at the Academy.

Sakura screwed her brow up as she tried to conjure an image in her head, by de-aging Naruto as she knew him now and trying to place him in the class somewhere.

"I don't remember him," she whispered.

"Look at the attendance," Sasuke intoned dryly.

Sakura's eyes traced over the page again, absorbing the information.

"Strange," she said eventually. "His attendance record for the first week was pretty solid, then it becomes patchy and then he just stopped coming. Why? He obviously had the potential to become a great ninja and the drive because he's here, so why did he stop coming?"

"I think I've found the reason to that," Sasuke said as he tore a page out of a book and threw the crumpled piece of paper at Sakura. "Read it."

Sakura unfurled the piece of paper.

"Continuous B-rank mission," she read, her eyes going wide as saucers. "Find and capture Uzumaki Naruto unharmed and return him to Konoha?!"

"Look at the date," Sasuke said.

"Dated…" she trailed off. "Ten years ago?!"

The date on the mission almost exactly corresponded with the date Naruto's attendance stopped completely.

"The question is, Sakura," Sasuke said, hopping down from the bookcase. "Where did he go?"

Sakura paused, staring at the mission.

"And," she added. "Why couldn't our ANBU find him?"

Uzumaki Naruto was pissed off. This was his third night back in Konoha and the second time that he had been dragged from his bed by an ANBU and taken to the Hokage's Office for an impromptu interrogation.

To say it was beginning to get old was an understatement.

Naruto sighed before grabbing his katana and leaving for the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Sasuke lay in bed awake, thinking over everything in his head.

Naruto was an enigma, one which wasn't easily solved by a night cramming in the library with Sakura. He didn't remember much of his childhood; due to the trauma of the loss of his family and his team, the entire ordeal was somewhat hazy. Sakura was their best bet to pinning Naruto's identity down, but she had no recollection either.

Then, there was Naruto's _other _identity: the Crimson Fox.

Six years ago, Kiri had shocked the Shinobi World by adding the youngest member alive to the Bingo Book, someone they named the Crimson Fox. Details as to why he was added and what he did had been omitted, but it was clear that Kiri was after his head.

Information about his movement through countries was pretty consistent, even if his path seemed without pattern, with him dropping in and out of hidden villages at random.

Naruto was good – damned good – that much was visible in the Bell Test, but just how good, Sasuke was only beginning to appreciate. The blond enigma had been ditching Konoha Hunter-nin squads since he was six, Kiri Hunter-nins since he hit ten and Kami knows what in between. All Sasuke really had to brag was that he had survived an A-rank mission at the age of twelve.

Then there was Naruto's heritage. _Uzumaki._

The Uzumaki were a clan of perhaps even higher standing than his own and, despite having been wiped out decades ago, their name still held a large amount of weight in the Shinobi World.

So, why, Sasuke asked himself, did his Academy Records list him as a clanless orphan? Orphan he may have been, but clanless? He was anything but.

Sasuke sighed and rolled over in his bed. This was too much to think about right now. It would be better to get some sleep.

* * *

_That's it, folks. Sorry for the delay._

_-FriedIce_

_PS: If you know what's good for you, you'll review…_


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